An administrative case has been opened against the former chief of Cinematography Agency of Uzbekistan Firdavs Abdukhalikov for alleged awarding contracts to the Sevimli TV channel owned by his son, daughter and wife.
The Anti-Corruption Agency confirmed the conflict of interest and transferred the case to the prosecutor's office. Abdukhalikovs also own several bestselling yellow newspapers, the likes of Darakchi, Sogdiyona and hold shares in other major media outlets.
The press service of the General Prosecutor's Office, on January 25, sent the case to court. However, the Office did not specify under which article the case is being considered. It is possible that under article 175-8 (violation of the legislation on public procurement).
According to the above article, failure to notify, in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation on public procurement, about affiliation and conflict of interest in the public procurement process, as well as non-acceptance of proposals for public procurement in cases not provided for by the legislation on public procurement, or reduction of the deadlines for submitting proposals contrary to the requirements of the legislation on public procurement, as well as violation of the requirements for opening envelopes with proposals and evaluating proposals in accordance with the procurement documentation, entails a fine on officials from twenty to thirty basic settlement units (from 5.4 million to 8.1 million soums, from 500-800 USD).
